The present invention relates to a wire cutter and former and especially to a cutter and former for the axially extending lead wires of electrical components. In certain applications, it is necessary to bend the leads axially extending from certain electrical components such as resistors, diodes, etc., in a predetermined fashion. These "components" can also be plain wires used as jumpers on circuit boards, the opposite axially extending ends being bent for placement in the holes of a printed circuit board in the same manner as components having a component body between the leads. The leads must be bent with precision in order to avoid stress points near the bend in the lead. Particularly in military applications, stress points in the bent leads can cause failure of the component by breakage of the lead or the body. Therefore, military specifications require that the bend in the lead has a certain radius of curvature. Specifically, certain military specifications require that the radius of curvature of the bent lead must equal or exceed the diameter of the lead itself. In other words, if the lead wire has a diameter of 0.023", the radius of curvature of the bend cannot be less than 0.023".
A lead cutter and bender of the general type of interest, for feeding and trimming component leads, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,919--Shiloh et al. The disclosure of this patent is incorporated herein for particulars of drive shaft and article handling. In prior art devices, the axially extending leads were bent by placing the component in a die and bending the lead wire over a specially configured die surface. However, when different sized lead wires were encountered, the wire forming dies had to be changed. In an automated process, the changing of the dies significantly affects production time.